Govt finally sees National’s wisdom on rotting homes

The Government has finally seen the wisdom of National’s proposal that a compulsory dispute resolution process is the way to solve the rotting homes crisis, says National Housing Spokesperson Dr Wayne Mapp.

“It is a pity it has taken them nearly a month to come up with the common sense to realise that people need a fast-track dispute resolution process. This would not have happened without National championing the interests of homeowners.

“There are still some major issues to be resolved. The Building Code needs to be changed and requirements put in place that every home built since 1996 with untreated timber and monolithic cladding to be inspected, so that we can find the full extent of the problem.

“The Government needs to urgently change the Code so that no new homes are built with untreated timber and without ventilation cavities in the walls. Unless the Government makes these changes thousands of more homes will be built to rot.

“Today’s announcements were made by Dr Cullen as soon as the Prime Minister left the country. Clearly the Government has lost confidence in the ability of Mr Hawkins to fix this problem. It is time he was transferred to another portfolio,” Dr Mapp said.

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